A Dialogue with Syleena Johnson

Krannert Uncorked presented in collaboration with Illinois Soul.

Today, we’re joined by Syleena Johnson, a grammy-nominated singer/songwriter, author, and reality show star. She grew up in the Chicago area, then went on to study at Illinois State University. In 2004, Slyeena Johnson collaborated with Kanye West as a vocalist on the hit single “All Falls Down.” In 2005, she released her album, "Chapter 3: The Flesh", and her music career has still continued to today.

Some of her latest work includes the album, "Woman", which was released in 2020. She is also an author, and has released a self-help book titled, "The Weight Is Over".

After our Dialogue with Johnson, we revisit a story about Juneteenth, a day to celebrate the end of slavery in United States. 

It commemorates June 19, 1865, when a Union Army general brought word to enslaved people in Texas that they had legally been freed. This was two years after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery in the rebel states, including Texas.

To discuss Juneteenth, we are joined by higher education reporter Emily Hays, who sits down with Sundiata Cha-Jua, a professor of African-American history at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He wrote a book about an Illinois town founded by people fleeing slavery in Missouri, called "America’s First Black Town: Brooklyn, Illinois, 1830-1915".

GUESTS:

Syleena Johnson
American singer-songwriter, author, and tv-show star
Dr. Sundiata Cha-Jua
Associate Professor in the Departments of African American Studies and History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign